i was thinking more along the lines that yaya said outright in the first year of his contract that he would return to barca. He has been grumbling for a new contract lately. Thus his lack of transfer to barca qualifies the deal for the transfer thread.

Just watched Sampdoria v Palermo and it reminded me of just how good Josip Ilicic is becoming. Pretty good pace and flashy passing/skills with the ball at his feet that are very uncommon for someone his size (about 6'4" I believe.

Palermo seems to be making a little run to avoid relegation but if not he's surely gone (maybe even if they stay up). He may end being one of the best under the radar, immediate impact signings of the summer.

Exactly how much owner James Pallotta is willing to spend in the transfer market is quite the question these days.

He's certainly making money available to renew contracts on promising younger players like Marquinhos, Pjanic and Lamela and pushing through with the plans for the new stadium.

However, I'd guess that the budget for transfers will be kind of low this summer (€20-25m??) because of those expenditures. However, some money will probably be "flipped" (like with Borini/Destro deal) concerning Osvaldo.

However, since buying the club he's spent nearly as much as anyone in Serie A the first two years. But, it's been a massive roster overhaul and a lot has been spent on young players, many still with the primavera side.

In the service of rumor spreading, AS Roma boards are buzzing with the idea that if Pjanic doesn't want to extend past 2015, Roma may be willing to listen to offers for him if they can sign Christian Eriksen.

That Eriksen has always been so vocal about being a huge AS Roma fan is probably the only flame underlying this smoke. However, when asked if I saw any of the Roma young talent being sold, this would fit into a believable scenario at least.

Another source could simply be the usual one of agents spreading somewhat credible rumors to jack up prices.

I don't know how I would feel about it to be honest. Roma fans love Eriksen because he's a Roma fan and he certainly does have silky smooth skills.

However, I'd prefer that he'd played in Ligue 1 or somewhere the defenses don't give so much space. I'm always skeptical of how well attacking success for skinny Dutch league players translates, especially for a club like Roma that would be so far set back by a bust signing of that price.

Pjanic himself had a slow transition to learning to deal with defenders swarming him without just getting frustrating and yelling for fouls.